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    704th Hosts Joint Language Wars competition

    Linguists compete in Language Wars

    Photo By Amy Christopherson | Competitors and judges participate in a Joint Language Wars competition March 27 at...... read more read more

    FORT MEADE, MD, UNITED STATES

    03.29.2013

    Story by Sgt. Amy Christopherson 

    704th Military Intelligence Brigade

    LINTHICUM, Md. – The 704th Military Intelligence Brigade hosted a joint Language Wars competition for linguists from all the services to compete and show off their skills.

    Linguists speaking five major languages: Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Russian competed in various games for four days.

    Many service members find that a little healthy competition can be good motivation for self improvement and, in an effort to encourage linguists to improve their skills; the 704th Military Intelligence (MI) Brigade organized a language competition to do just that.

    “The Joint Language Wars” gave teams of 704th MI linguists soldiers the opportunity to show their skills and compete with their Navy and Air Force counterparts, March 26 to 29, at the Joint Language Center in Linthicum, Md.

    After realizing that the brigade hasn’t participated in a language competition since 2005, Col. Anthony Hale, commander of the 704th MI Brigade, decided to revive the tradition that was previously referred to as the ‘Language Olympics.’

    Hale said the skills of the brigade’s linguists have improved immensely since he put a focus on it in the last quarter of fiscal year 12 and the beginning of FY 13. According to Hale there has been a large increase in those considered proficient and expert in their languages and the number of sub-proficient scores has decreased significantly.

    “Having a competition puts the focus on how important language is,” Hale said. “A linguist being an expert in his or her language is like another soldier shooting expert on his or her weapon.”

    According to Lt. Col. Terance Huston, the commander of 741st MI Battalion, 704th MI Bde., the improvements have worked so well that only nine percent of the linguists in his battalion are currently considered sub-proficient in their languages. He said this is the first time he can remember ever having less than 10 percent sub-proficient.

    Huston said this significant improvement is due not only to the hard work of the linguists and the world-class training facilities, but also the “focus on set [teams of] linguists and mentors and tailored training programs”.

    Hale said he plans to bring back the Joint Language Wars as an annual event to encourage soldiers to keep their skills sharp.
    The competition focused on five languages that are among those studied by 704th linguists: Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Russian.

    Sgt. 1st Class Adrian Holler, the brigade’s command language program manager, said soldiers receive at least 150-200 hours of language training every year through various training methods including mentorship programs and classroom time.

    The programs offered to the brigade are flexible, with the ability to tailor training to focus on any areas that an individual may need to work on most whether it’s reading, writing or speaking.

    “One reason for the recent improvements is the emphasis throughout the unit on the importance of languages,” Holler said. “Everyone understands [language is] that’s our job and it’s important to maintain those skills because they’re critical to the mission of supporting our national defense.”

    Maj. Shawn Stroop, the 704th MI Brigade operations officer, said while the event was organized to encourage soldiers to improve and progress, it was also a great opportunity to compete with the sister services.

    “What a great way to represent not only your service but put your skills to use and compete against each other,” Stroop said.

    The event was scheduled to end on the morning of March 29 but it was such a close competition that tiebreakers lasted into the afternoon. After the winners were determined, the event closed out with an awards ceremony.

    Though 704th MI Bde. was the overall winner, Hale said “We didn’t host the competition to win it, but to bring focus back to the importance of your languages as a weapons system.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 03.29.2013
    Date Posted: 04.18.2013 10:23
    Story ID: 105403
    Location: FORT MEADE, MD, US

    Web Views: 142
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN